Next week I’ve been living and surviving in France for exactly two months! This got me thinking about the culture shock which I have been going through. I ended up drawing this silly table with images of myself because it helped me reflect where I might be at the moment.

When arriving to La Rochelle, everything to me was wonderful. The weather was great and the peoples’ friendliness really surprised me. I didn’t have time to notice the negatives of this place because my new life was going smoothly as I was making friends and enjoying my life. The first month was like a lovely holiday!

In the end of september problems started occuring together with the everyday life. It wasn’t fun anymore. There were days when nothing was working and all services had to be qued for. The homeless people in the streets were no longer something I didn’t notice, but instead I started getting annoyed of all the begging and dirt lying around. The streets were stinky and I couldn’t sleep at night because of the trash cars. I was also sick of not being able to express myself in my own language. I’d come to the second phase of culture shock.

Right now I feel very good. I’m enjoying life at school and during freetime. I’ve learned some French and most of my problems have been more or less solved. I cannot say that I’m totally adapted to the French culture, but I could say that I’m slowly starting to understand it. Some things, such as greeting with cheek kisses still freak me out a little, but then again I’m doing those greetings myself, too. I’m feeling OK about this place again and I’ve even started talking to complete strangers just like they keep doing to me. I’m still aware that there are more (both negative and positive) surprises to come so we’ll see what happens next! Right now I’m clearly having a good phase! Better make the best of it!

Anna

A 24-year-old Finnish-English traveler, sharing stories from the rainforests of Borneo to the beaches of Sri Lanka, and from the Sahara desert all the way to the Arctic circle.Current location: The Netherlands